Bill Sardithe vitamin supplement answer man

A published report explains the case of a 10-year old boy presented to the emergency department of a hospital in Philadelphia with a six-month history of bloody nose (epistaxis).

The child also exhibited bleeding gums and red eyes (subconjunctival hemorrhages). The child was not taking any medications.

The child was diagnosed with hepatitis (liver inflammation) and started on steroid drugs to relieve symptoms. Elevated liver enzymes declined. Not at any point in the 7-page report on this patient was scurvy suggested, even though the patient exhibited overt signs of vitamin C deficiency (gums, eyes). Steroids deplete vitamin C and represent inappropriate medication.

A common reason for misdiagnosis of bloody nose is the lack of recognition that aspirin depletes vitamin C which then weakens blood capillaries which results in hemorrhage.

In 1975 doctors William Coffey and C.W.M. Wilson wrote in The British Medical Journal that hematemesis (vomiting blood) is likely induced by aspirin-induced scurvy (vitamin C deficiency). These doctors presented evidence that vitamin C levels decline with advancing age and that aspirin worsens that problem. They noted that many medications deplete vitamin C including tobacco, alcohol, iron, oral contraceptives and even antibiotics. They noted that “aspirin is one of the most powerful drugs that produce ascorbic acid (vitamin C) deficiency.”

While their report does not address bloody nose, it does reveal the fact doctors have been overlooking vitamin C deficiency as a cause in all the various forms of hemorrhage, regardless of their anatomical location.

The obvious escapes recognition. Even if vitamin C deficiency is not a primary cause of bloody nose, bloody noses do not occur if blood capillaries are strong rather than weak. This basis understanding escapes practical use in the medical clinic. Who has the time to track down the cause when a patient experiencing severe loss of blood? An assumption should be vitamin C deficiency may be involved and mega-vitamin C therapy will cause no harm.